LOSING MY RELIGION—Spiritual, But Not Religious
By Pastor Robby Bradford
CAN A PERSON KNOW AND LOVE GOD WHILE REJECTING CHURCH?
–>You can’t reject the Church and follow Jesus at the same time.
(Ephesians 1:22-23) And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
–>The sacrifice of Jesus pays for the Church.
(Acts 20:28) Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
(Ephesians 5:25) Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…
–> The Christian life is both individual and communal.
(1 John 1:7) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
(1 Corinthians 12:13) For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body–whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free–and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
–> Post-church or post-religious Christians do not exist.
(Ephesians 2:20-22) Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
IMPLICATIONS FOR CHRIST FOLLOWERS
1. Commitment to making the church effective is the privilege of EVERY believer.
(Romans 12:4-5) For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
2. Unity with other believers is the priority of every believer.
(Ephesians 4:3) Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
3. Connection to and serving the Body of Christ are the natural outgrowth of following Christ.
(1 Corinthians 12:12-20) Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
BOTTOM LINE: What’s your next step?